Improvement in reefing sails



- ZSheet-SheetL J- W. SHARRET REEFING SAILS.

Patented June 13', 1876 nya.

N. FETEkS. FHOTO-LTTHOGRAPHEN. WASMNGT'UN D C 2Sheets-Sheet 2.

J'. W. SHARRET.

' REEFING SAILS'. No 17'8 678 Patented J'u ne13, 1876.

N-PETERS. PHOTO-UTHOGNAFHER. WASHINGTON. D. C.

UNITEDQSTATE JOHN w. sHAaRET, OF

PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN REEFING SAILS Specification forming'part of Letters.Patent No.

'May 22, 1576.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN W. SHARRET, of

Portsmouth, in the countyof Norfolk and State of Virginia,have inventednew and useful Improvements in Reefing Fore-and-Aft Sails of Vessels,which improvements are fully set forth in the following specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is aside elevation of a vessel with fully'set sails, the sails being inaccordance with my invention. "Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5 are plan views of theropes or brails used for furling, as will be hereafter sufficientlyexplained. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the lee side of a vessel withreefed sails, the sailsbeing eonstrncted and operated inacco'rdance withmy' invention.

The nature of my invention consists in certainconstructions,combinations, and arrange 'ments of parts, as hereinafterdescribed and specifically claimed, whereby is provided an 'or course ofthe vessel.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand my invention, 1 willproceed to describe it.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents a vessel; B, a mast; (J, ajib-boom; D,

a boom, and E a gaff. The forestayF eonneets the mast-head with thefront end of the jib-boom, and serves to support the jib, which iscomposed of parts G and H, fastened together by diagonal lacing I, sothat it consists of two independent triangular sails, each with ahalyard, and both with one down-haul.

A The upper halyard h is fastened to the highest point of the bonnetportion H, and passed through a block, h on the mast, down to its usualfastenings on the deck. The lower halyard 9 is fastened to the highestpoint of the part G of the jib, and is passed through the hanks g of thebonnetH;'thenee through the blockh and down to its usual fastenings on178,678, dated June 13, 1876 application filed the deck. The jib-bonnetbrails K K are fastened on either side to the leech .of thesaid sail at71/ whence they pass through the eye finally passing through theopposite hank g, down through the eye 9 of the sail G, and to thejib-boom, from which it is guided, in the usual manner, to thet'astenings on theforedeek of the vessel. The points for the fastening hand the eye 9 are at the same distance from the traveler L and from thelacing I, to permit the bonnet to be nicely doubled or folded up uponthe jib G. Thejib is fastened. to the jib-boom O, in the usual manner,at o,and.to the traveler guide or rail L by means of the traveler 1,also in the usual manner.- Between the boom D and the gaff Ethe'at'tsail is fastened in the usual manner. It consists of themains-ail M and the mainsail-reef N. To strengthen the aft-sail whenreefed, it is proa leech when the reef N is fur-led up, as seen in Fig.6.

The mainsail M is fastened to the boom D in-the usual manner, and to themast B by means of travelers b. The gaff E, to which throat-halyard 0,which is fastened to the eye 0 of the said sail. The other end of thegaff is supported by the peak-halyard P, in the usual manner. The brailsQ Q of the aft-sail The main-brails run from the eye m along both sidesof the sail N, to the leech R, to which they are fastened at r, a pointequidistant from the boom-fastening d, with an eye, m in the sail-M, inwhich the said brails cross each other before they finally pass throughone of the g in the part G of the jib, thereby crossing each other andreversing their positions, and

vided with a ridge-hand, m, which serves as the mainsail-reef N isattached in the usual manner, is, near the mast, supported by the p areconstructed with switches q and g, which banks 1) and down to the deck,where they are As long as the-vessel proceeds with full sail thejib-bonnet hrails and the mainsail-reef hrails are fastened to the deckin a tight manher, to prevent them. from getting entangled with otherropes or from being blown out of reach. When the jib-bonnet is to bereefed the halyard h is nnfastened and the bonnet H allowed to come downalong the forestayF.

To prevent thewind from bagging the sail it is brought down bythedown-haul G. At the same time the brailK, which furls the honnet to thelee side, is drawn tight and fastened, whereby the bonnet becomesfurled, as seenin Fig. 6.

To reef the aft-sail the peak-halyard P is unfastened, and thebrailQ,which reefs the said sails at the lee side, is drawn upon. Thefastening'r on the leech R is thereby drawn to the eye m and the gaff Eis drawn down until the point e (where the switch q is fastened) arrivesat the eye m The mainsail-reef is thus doubled up and fastened upon thesail M, and the gaff E is fastened close to the leech R. The peak-halyard P and the [nail Q are now properly fastened, and the operation ofreefing is completed.

To unfurl thesails again, the brails and. the down-haul are loosened andthe halyards drawn on and finally fastened.

it is obvious that by drawing on the brails K and Q the sails will bereefed on the opposite side to that represented.

The described operation is so simple, and the labor required for it isso little, that one man can reefand set sail in considerably lesstimetha-n four men could possibly do the same work according to anyother known method.

I. am aware that mainsails of the above description are diagonallyreefed; but I do this diagonal reefing. with differentlyarranged brails,and thereby enable the operator to fasten the gaif and reef the sail bymeans of only one brail, and that with less exertion and in less time,thus reducing time, labor, wear, and cost of construction.

, cut, is-

annoyance by its variable sway. This reeling requires the skill and mainstrength of several 1 hands and a good deal of time, thus greatlyendangering the vessel in stormy weather.

With my improved construction the main part of the jib remains intactunder all circumstances, and the reefingisdone by onedman with the aidof onebrail in. almost a moment, and with very little exertion, whilethe course of the vessel is not in the slightest degreeinf terferedwith.

Having described my in vention, what J1 claim,

as new, and desire to secure by Letters Pat- 1. The mainsail of a vesselprovided witha diagonal ridge-band, uponwhich the gaff is.

secured in the act of mating by a branch of i the brail which reefs thesaid sail, operated substantially as described.

2. The mainsail M and the reefN, having eyes m m in them,through whichthe hrails The jibcould heretoforeonly bereefedty, 1

cross each other, substantially asand for the purpose setforth.

3. The brails Q, and Q, having branches and q, constructed and operatingsubsta-u;

, 4. The combination of the main portion G of the jib, the bonnet H, thehalyards g and h, down-haul G, and the brails K K", constructed andoperating substantially as set forth.

5. The jib made of two triangular sections, sald sections being unitedtogether by lacing,

and both operated together, or the upper one independently of the lowerone, by means substantially as described.

JOHN WILLIAM SHARRET. \Vitnesses:

JOHN GLEMEN'rs, G. F. EDWARDS.

